The force that through the green fuse drives the flower
Drives my green age; that blasts the roots of trees
Is my destroyer.
And I am dumb to tell the crooked rose
My youth is bent by the same wintry fever.
The force that drives the water through the rocks
Drives my red blood; that dries the mouthing streams
Turns mine to wax.
And I am dumb to mouth unto my veins
How at the mountain spring the same mouth sucks.
The hand that whirls the water in the pool
Stirs the quicksand; that ropes the blowing wind
Hauls my shroud sail.
And I am dumb to tell the hanging man
How of my clay is made the hangman's lime.
The lips of time leech to the fountain head;
Love drips and gathers, but the fallen blood
Shall calm her sores.
And I am dumb to tell a weather's wind
How time has ticked a heaven round the stars.
And I am dumb to tell the lover's tomb
How at my sheet goes the same crooked worm.
as you read this poem the tone begins to define the images that comes to your head. the line that is in every stanza
begins to loom over you like a nightmare saying that if things had been different this would not be happening to you. this
poem is difficult to interpret but i felt that their was a definit pattern within it. the first three lines of each stanza
show us something about the the process of life. the birth sequence can be seen through the words green age or lips of time.
both of these give us either the image of a sprouting plant or the genitals of a female. this is not the end though as the
plant ages it turns into a tree clearly showing that it is aging. the negative aspect of this second line can especially be
seen in the third stanza which starts with stirs up quicksand. the third line them brings the end of this life circle. the
tree's aging is its own destroyer as well as the blood ages it thickens and turns to wax clearly showing us that life is not controlled but
run by time which we so often wish away. Dylan Thomas likes to supply us with psychological advice and in this poem i feel
thats what the last two lines of each stanza does. the first three stanzas i felt have a similar meaning that it is dumb to
argue because time wins and we share the same fate as the hang man just as we drink the rivers dry and winter bends the rose.
then i feel there is a change in the tone. the last two of these ending seem to accept time as what they are. the wind knows
not of time and neither do we just as someday our lovers will be eaten by the same worms as us. Not exactly the uplifting
poem that we often expect but i feel Dylan was able to get the important message across that we need to enjoy time while we
have within this poem.
Dylan Thomas was a fantastic poet who knew how to create a vivid picture in
your mind with his well chosen words, but can be hard to read. He uses powerful words and ties them together beautifully.
While readig Dylan Thomas, he puts you into a world of of very vivid and precise words that make his words come to life,
and this poems choice of words puts you right into his world. This poem proved to be the hardest poem for me to to understand
as well to write about. This poem is full of briliant visualizations that are created by his words, and if you look closely
at them you will find out that he is actually describing the processes of the body and they way of life. In the first stanza
he describes the the flower as an agent that drives his life, and this is also a sign of syolism having plant life represent
life. He goes on to further explain in the second stanza that the force that drives the water throught the rocks is a great
mental picture of picturing the blood running through all of our vains. OUr blood travels through our body bending through
streams and rivers of viens and arteries. Then later Thomas goes on to describe the biggest human condition and that is the
act of dying and death. This is quite apparent in the forth stanza he is describing how old age and sickness is taking its
tole and at the end he shows us a glimpse of what we know is death creeping up to you later in your life. Then Thomas leads
us to infer that with the ending of the poem the person's life is over.
A record of his struggle from darkness to some measure of light
